News

The Ministry of Defence of Georgia has stated that "during the armed conflict with Russia the Georgian party never used cluster bombs against population and civil aims of South-Ossetian or any other region."

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, who has already expressed his views on the desirability of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's voluntary retirement, has suggested introducing embargo on arms deliveries to Georgia until the power changes in this republic.

As of August 31, as a result of the TV "Marathon Action" to raise funds for the families of political prisoners and victims of March 1 events on in Armenia, organized by the Armenian community of Los Angeles, over 60 thousand US dollars were raised.

On August 31, President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez declared that his country completely supported Russia's decision to recognize Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's independence. He also named President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili "a US puppet."

The General Prosecutor's Office of South Ossetia has presented charges to the two residents of North Ossetia who have accused Eduard Kokoity of cowardice and were arrested for a skirmish with President of South Ossetia and his guards.

Magomed Evloev, owner of the website "Ingushetia.Ru", who perished on August 31, was buried in Ingushetia. About five hundred persons came today to take part in the mourning ceremony in the house of Evloev's parents in Malgobek.

Russian and Ingush human rights organizations have voiced in favour of prompt investigation into the circumstance of Magomed Evloev's murder. Demands are also expressed to entrust the case to federal, not local, inspectors.

Yuri Turygin, Public Prosecutor of Ingushetia, has stated today that Magomed Evloev, owner of the website "Ingushetia.Ru", got his fatal wound as a result of a random shot. Ingushetian human rights activists and oppositionists do not trust him.

Shortly before his death, relatives and friends of Magomed Evloev, owner of a website "Ingushetia.Ru", tried to fight the oppositionist back from militiamen.

Sergey Bokovoy, a member of the first group of the leading Russian ecologists and a member of the Supreme Ecological Board of Russian State Duma, believes that the territory of South Ossetia is an ecological catastrophe zone.

The North Ossetia gets ready to hold Memory Days on the victims of the act of terror committed on September 1-3, 2004, in Beslan.

On August 31, at midday, an all-Russian action under the motto "Future of Russia is in mothers' hands" is to start in the Theatre Square of Tskhinvali with participation of public organizations of North Ossetia and the "Beslan Mothers" Association of Victims of Terror Acts.

As a result of the war, an essential part of households in Tskhinvali have suffered. According to the data presented by Mayor of Tskhinvali Robert Guliev, we can state that 80 percent of the city's housing fund was damaged.

At least 400 persons are still regarded missing in South Ossetia, and there is no information about them. In his conversation with journalists, David Sanakoev, Ombudsman in South Ossetia, said that the Georgian party denies that there are women and children among their detainees.

A soldier was killed and 11 more persons were wounded in an explosion in Vedeno district centre in Chechnya. The victims were soldiers, a militiaman and a woman, occasional passer-by.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia plan to sign agreements on mutual recognition and military cooperation, said Robert Kokoev, South Ossetia's ambassador to Abkhazia. Sergey Shamba, Abkhazian Minister of Foreign Affairs, has stated today that Abkhazia can join the Allied State of Russia and Belarus and by virtue of this get access to international organizations.

On August 27, a Georgian drone (pilotless aircraft) was shot down in its flight over the territory of South Ossetia by the forces of local MIA, Mikhail Mindzaev, head of the Republic's MIA, stated yesterday, on August 28, in a press conference in Tskhinvali.

Sergey Sokolov, deputy editor-in-chief of the "Novaya Gazeta", has reported that the case on the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, observer of the paper, may be transferred to the court in the first decade of September.

Regional correspondents of the Azeri Service of Radio Liberty Malakhat Nasibova and Ilgar Nasibov, and Elman Abbasov, regional representative of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), addressed by mail to the prosecutor's office of the Babek District of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic (NAR).

Tomorrow, on August 30, Georgian diplomats will be recalled from Russia, reports Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia Grigol Vashadze, since Georgia breaks its diplomatic relations with Russia.